Currently, an individual is considered a member of the DRF if he or she participates in our annual forum.  Our forum is an exclusive event, attended by payments professionals with diverse responsibilities; strategic and tactical.

Merchant attendees are defined as individuals who work for merchant companies.  These professionals represent a broad range of disciplines, holding positions in Accounting & Finance, Call Center Operations; Cash Management; Catalogue & Fulfillment Operations, Chargebacks & Disputes, Consumer Fraud, Credit Card Operations, Credit and Collections, Consumer Payments; Customer Service; Financial & Technical Systems, Loss Prevention Managers; Marketing or Risk Management. Some are senior executives, others are front-line professionals. This breadth of perspectives supports the remarkable exchange of ideas and best practices at the forum.

Because the DRF exists to serve Customer Not Present (CNP) merchants, the DRF Board of Directors has created guidelines to ensure that a majority of forum attendees represent merchants. The annual forum is solely an educational event, not a venue for vendor sales or marketing. To ensure these objectives are met, attendee definitions, profiles and guidelines have been established.

A limited number of non-merchant attendees, referred to as associate attendees, are also invited to participate in the educational process at the forum. Associate attendees bring expertise and important perspectives that enrich the exchange of best practices between peers. However, in order to ensure that the forum remains merchant focused, there are limits placed on the number and profile of associate attendees. Here are the basic guidelines for associates:

• Associate organizations must have at least one DRF merchant as a customer who is attending the forum OR be invited by the board to speak at the event.
• Associate attendees must be responsible for operational, technical, functional, merchant support activities or be policy specialists.
• The DRF is not a place for sales, marketing or business development professionals, since sales or promotion is not a part of the forum.

Associates can learn more by reviewing the Forum Attendee Guidelines. Cooperation with these guidelines is greatly appreciated. The DRF Board of Directors strives to be fair and consistent, while still meeting the objective of maintaining a 'merchant focus' at the forum. Associate attendees and their companies participate in the DRF at the discretion of the DRF Board of Directors, who reserve the right to limit or refuse attendance.

When registering for the DRF, registrants must classify themselves according to their employers' profile. These are the categories and definitions used to guide this process:

Merchants’ primary business model is direct to consumer goods or services in a Customer Not Present (CNP) payments environment with liability for disputes and chargebacks. Merchants have no restrictions on the number of attendees allowed.

Associates encompass all non-merchant companies. Here are the qualifications to participate:

• Associate companies must provide evidence that they are doing business with at least one DRF merchant who is in attendance at the forum or the associate must be invited by the board to speak at the event.
• Associate attendee’s primary role within their organization should be within the operational, technical, functional, merchant support; and/or or policy specialist domains (as opposed to sales and marketing or new business development).
• Associate attendees and their companies participate at the discretion of the DRF Board of Directors who reserves the right to limit or refuse attendees.

Acquirer Associates are Card Association members or agents who enter into Merchant Agreements and who, directly or indirectly, pass the initial sales transaction through Interchange and represent the merchant in chargeback processes.

Card Company Associates establish the consumer and merchant rules and establish and maintain regulatory compliance for all parties in the payment scheme. The recognized companies in this category are American Express, Discover, JCB, MasterCard and Visa.

Alternative Payment Provider Associates include transaction tenders (not bank card) such as internet wallet, deferred billing, ACH, electronic checks, etc.

Service Provider Associates are all other companies and consultants whose primary business is providing of goods and services (other than those defined above) to the CNP industry (e.g., consumer authentication or fraud screening tools; consulting services; e-commerce hosting, development or integration etc.).

The DRF Board of Directors reserves the right to determine the classification and fee of all forum registrants.